The VLA neighbourhood or Prince George has a reputation for being poor and crime-ridden. Often when people come to the city, they are told not to live there. But when Reza Akbari was new to Canada, he was given no such advice. Here's his story.

This is part of a special series called "At Home in the Hood: Stories from Prince George's VLA" starting Monday, January 20 on CBC's Daybreak North. For more information visit http://bit.ly/cbc-vla